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The Invisible Diggers Book - BAJR Host - 19th March 2009
The Invisible Diggers
A Study of British Commercial Archaeology
by
Paul Everill
(Go on Paul... get BAJR a free copy to offer as a gift!)
Since the increasing reliance on developers to fund archaeological work through the 1980s, and the implementation of Planning Policy Guidance Note 16 (PPG16) in 1990, British ?commercial? archaeologists have become increasingly distanced from their academic colleagues. This study examines the situation within contemporary ?commercial? archaeology and considers the challenges faced by those employed within that sector, including the impact of commercial working practices on pay and conditions of employment and the process of excavation and knowledge production.
Part One provides an historical background, documenting the development of ?developer-led? archaeology from its roots in the largely volunteer ?rescue? excavations.
There is also a consideration of the perception of fieldwork as ?labouring?, from the earliest excavations through to the present.
Part Two presents the analysis of the data gathered for this study. Beginning with quantitative data provided by a survey of commercial archaeologists, a portrait is painted of the people employed in that sector before moving on to discuss the written submissions
that many respondents included when submitting the survey. These chapters present and then develop certain key themes, and the subsequent analysis of extensive qualitative interviews with 28 participants allows these themes to be considered in far greater detail.
The thematic analysis of the interviews is divided into two chapters ? one considering the career paths of the participants and the other discussing their perceptions of the profession ? and these sandwich the analysis of a participant observation study undertaken over two
months in 2004/5. This study provides a fascinating insight into the working environment of commercial archaeologists and demonstrates how camaraderie and love of their job is often just enough to outweigh the adversity they face face in the form of low wages, poor
employment conditions and career prospects.
224pp, 32 tables, 48 figures, many in colour,
210x298, paperback, (available early May 2009)
978-1-905993-10-5 ?24.95
?When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.?
William Blake
The Invisible Diggers Book - Dirty Dave Lincoln - 19th March 2009
Wow, this sounds a fantastic book-and on a facet of archaeology that is much needed-the units and the people!
About a couple of months ago me and Velociraptor were talking down t'pub on this subject. The ideas we came up with for publications were:
1-The history of archaeological societies through to commercial units of today.
2-Individual regional books of the same.or
3-Individual unit histories.
After all, there must be a whole lot of stories just waiting to be told, so I for one wouldn't mind getting hold of a copy of Paul's book.
The Invisible Diggers Book - matthew.law - 19th March 2009
All great ideas, Dave.
On histories of units - http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/Issue_01/Buteux.htm
Looking forward to Paul's book.
Matt
The Invisible Diggers Book - Paul Everill - 20th March 2009
Happy to provide a copy for BAJR after all the help you gave me when I was doing the research mate.
I really hope that the book starts to shed a bit of light on the profession. I suspect that a lot of non-commercial archaeologists and others will be pretty surprised by some of it.
Information on advance orders etc are available from Hilary Schan at Oxbow Books - hilary@oxbowbooks.com
All the best, Paul